Mateus d'Ávila, MSc, BSc

Mateus d’Ávila is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at Yale, where he studies how the brain perceives and responds to changes in the body’s energy state. His research focuses on the neural circuits that control hunger, metabolism, and body weight, with a particular interest in understanding how widely used metabolic drugs such as GLP-1 receptor agonists reshape these systems.

Originally from Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, Mateus began his scientific career at the Federal University of Pará before coming to Yale as a Fulbright Fellow. He is also a Líder Estudar, selected by Fundação Estudar’s Program for prominent young leaders in Brazil, and has received multiple distinctions in Neuroscience, including the Young Neuroscientist Prize in 2018 and 2020 by the Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior, and the Rita Levi-Montalcini Award from Fondazione Dompé.

His work bridges Neuroscience and Metabolism, combining approaches in neural circuit biology, physiology, and behavior to challenge established ideas about how the brain regulates energy balance. Beyond the lab, Mateus is passionate about mentoring young scientists, making science more accessible, and strengthening connections between researchers in Brazil and the United States. He hopes to build a career that combines fundamental discovery with expanding opportunities for science and scientific training in the Amazon.